just another tech blog

Monday, October 15, 2007

So today I was sitting at my computer thinking something along the lines of "hay opera [web browser] is really fast but not very compatible and Firefox with all the add ons I need is really slow, humm I wonder what happened with flock" so I proceeded to download a new version of flock, it has all the basics speed, looks, etc, anyway if you want to try it out there is a link it the blogs sidebar. But I have already written enough about flock so now on to gmod, gmod is short for garry's mod and it is a sandbox mod for half-life 2 or the source engine, now a while ago I bought it for $25 and it has since become my favorite game by far. as I do with every game I own I modded it but I downloaded so many mods that they broke the game twice and some of them don't even work with newer versions of the game, I decided to learn how to make my on mods and am on the track to get something really cool/useful out of it all. I will try to blog my progress but I will make no promises.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

according to the EFF web page AT&T has been secretly assisting the NSA with its relentless wiretapping efforts but this time it is not wiretapping, spying on your phone lines but rather internet tapping, spying on your internet usage. Read the article here http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_08.php#005407 but for you lazy ones the entire blog entry follows

August 15, 2007

AT&T Must Face Justice for Illegal Spying

NSA Surveillance Comes Under Fire Today in Appeals Court Battle

San Francisco - In a packed San Francisco courtroom today, theElectronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the 9th U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals to allow AT&T customers to continue to fight againstillegal spying on their telephone and Internet communications.

EFF is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, aclass-action lawsuit brought by AT&T customers accusing the gianttelco of violating their rights by illegally assisting the NationalSecurity Agency in domestic surveillance. The U.S. government isfighting to get the class-action lawsuit thrown out of court,contending that the litigation jeopardizes state secrets.

"The courts cannot permit the government to evade responsibility forunconstitutional activities with thin claims of 'state secrets.'Without judicial review, there is no way to stop abuses of power," saidEFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "The courts are well equipped to protectstate secrets while determining whether the spying is illegal and ifso, to put a stop to it."

"In trying to shut down this case, the government is hoping to avoidaccountability for spying on millions of AT&T customers," said EFFStaff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Our system of checks and balances issupposed to thwart abuses of power. The White House is trying to wiggleout of those checks by taking the courts out of the picture."

Also Wednesday, the court heard arguments on the future ofAl-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush, a case alleging that thefederal agents illegally wiretapped calls between the charity and itslawyers. The government also wants this case dismissed on state secretsgrounds.

"The President is trying to hide behind a veil of false secrecy toevade a judicial determination that he broke the law. We're asking thecourt to see through that ploy," said Jon B. Eisenberg of Eisenberg andHancock, LLP, attorney for the Al-Haramain plaintiffs.

C-SPAN television recorded today's hearing and said it would air later in the day.

The appeals court did not make a ruling Wednesday. The decision will be released at a later date.

August 09, 2007

Appeals Court Battle Over NSA Surveillance on August 15

Government Aims to Block Accountability for Illegal Spying on Americans

San Francisco - In the wake of Congress approving a dramaticexpansion of U.S. warrantless wiretapping powers, the 9th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals will hear arguments on the future of two criticallawsuits over illegal surveillance of Americans. The hearing is set forAugust 15, at 2 p.m. in San Francisco.

The government is fighting to get the cases thrown out of court,contending that the litigation jeopardizes state secrets. TheElectronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is representing the plaintiffs inHepting v. AT&T, which accuses the telecom giant of collaboratingwith the National Security Agency (NSA) in illegal electronicsurveillance of millions of AT&T's customers. The court will alsohear the arguments on the future of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v.Bush, a case alleging that the government illegally wiretapped callsbetween the charity and its lawyers.

"At issue here is whether the courts have any meaningful role toplay in protecting Americans' privacy from Executive branch abuses ofits surveillance powers," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "If theclaim of 'state secrets' is allowed to shut down litigation, then thecourts will never be able to exercise their Constitutional duty to holdthe White House accountable for illegal and even unconstitutionalabuses of power."

The court has scheduled one hour of arguments for Hepting v.AT&T, and 40 minutes for Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush.Because of the large number of attendees expected at Wednesday'shearing, the court will provide an overflow room with audio and videoof the proceedings for spectators who cannot get a seat in thecourtroom itself.

For more information about attending the hearing, contact press@eff.org.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Today windows barfed up the famous blue screed of death no less that 3 times and besides that there were at least 2 times ware it just skipped the blue screen and went right to rebooting. I have to say that all this is making me kind of reconsider my habbit to use my windoze computer so much more that my old power pc mac with a Nvidia go video card, maybe it is time to pull out the ol' power book and star life anew with a mac.

Friday, June 01, 2007

A company called falling leaf systems is working on an API that lets windows XP users run windows vista only games. This is a fact that I am very very excited about because it means I can play halo 2 on my xp maciene. I used to have vista but I uninstalled it because of the reasons listen in my "to hell with vista" post. When late july comes around I will be glad to fork whatever price they want for this software as long that price is less vista home premium.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

So after I installed a new system I do what any other sane person would do and I install Firefox plugins like theres no tomorrow. One particular plugin that I game across in called clipmarks and its purpose is to let you create and share little scrap books of text movies and pictures that you find on the web. I think it is fun I I really recommend it.

Today I think I may go back to Firefox and it might just stay that way for a while. I have said this before but now that I see that Scribe Fire is a good way to blog from my browser and that there are Firefox extensions out there that let me sink my bookmarks with delicious FF may be here to stay. Besides just being able to do everything that flock could do(that I cared about) FF can also support more extensions. Your befuddled blogger over and out.